2023 WWC - The Road to the Final

 Greetings, gentle readers.

So we've reached the weekend of the Final, and what sort of retrospective can we create from the dozens of disparate narratives woven through the tapestry of this event?  To lead off, I suppose I should say that I've finally been convinced by the English team.  To steal a term from Robert Heinlein, I finally grok their style of play.  At the start of the tournament, I wasn't convinced that they had a style.  They had athleticism, they had a grim professional attitude, and they generally didn't fall into the "ball-watching-at-corner-kicks" category into which so many other teams could be lumped.  But then I noticed the play of Rachel Daly, and suddenly a number of things fell into place.

Inadequately trained or drilled teams tend to stare at the flight of corner kicks as though they had a Fox colour-comet-tail behind them.

Danger From The Deep

The Daly Show

In the semi-final against Australia, I finally noticed the same thing that initially endeared me to the Swiss team:  a player who could make an accurate 50 meter pass to clear the ball from her defensive third, to unlock a defensive offside trap, or to switch play to an open runner in space.  Luana Bühler was that kind of quarterback for Switzerland before she was injured and unable to contribute further to her team's cause.  The player who best executes those technical manoeuvres for England is Rachel Daly, a striker with Aston Villa but a left-back for her country.  Her defensive nous made me wonder why she would ever play in a forward position, since her tackling and positional play complement her vision and distribution in a way reminiscent of Philipp Lahm, the legendary German full-back.

Now that I had discovered England's deep-lying playmaking passmaster, I was able to sort the rest of the team out into the component parts of a successful team machine.

Towers of Power and Lighthouses

Another common element of successful teams at this year's WWC is the commanding centre-back.  In defence, that player coordinates the back line and the offside trap it creates; marshals personnel to outnumber rushing and overlapping attacks; organizes formations and structures to combat set plays; and perhaps most saliently, tends to win headers and effect clearances from dangerous areas.  This "Tower of Power" player acts as an extension of the goalkeeper and acts as a fortress, keeping the ball away from the 19-yard box and the goal line.

When their team has possession of the ball in the opposition half, Towers of Power become Lighthouses.  Because they are generally taller and/or have greater vertical leaps than their teammates, they can act as focus points and targets for crosses, corners, free-kicks, from which they can produce headers on net, hold up the ball and distribute it to available strikers, and nod or flick the ball into spaces with more potential.

Wendie Renard standing tall

The obvious example of this type of player is Wendie Renard of France.  At 6-foot-2, she stands well above most women players, and her skill using her head to control the ball is well recognized.  The England team has Millie Bright.  Although only 5-foot-10, her physicality and presence make her the focus of almost all English set plays, and the core of their defensive line.  A player of this sort to watch in the third-place playoff game would be Sweden's Amanda Ilestedt, who already has four goals in this tournament and is still in contention for the golden boot, despite being a defender.

The Mazy Dribblers

There was an episode of Ted Lasso in which the players discover that all of their passing lanes are closed down by a defensive system focused on interceptions.  The solution is obvious — dribble the ball directly at the defenders that are attempting to anticipate the passes.  There are some players (usually midfielders) who make your heart leap when they receive and turn with the ball. 

Another costly suspension

Sweden's Fridolina Rolfö, Switzerland's Ramona Bachmann, and Holland's Daniëlle van de Donk are tremendous examples of this type of player.  The last of those three was suspended for the game in which the Netherlands was eliminated, and her absence was tangible.  

When the tournament began, I didn't recognize this type of player in the England squad, but by the time that they played Australia in the semi-finals, it became clear to me that Lauren Hemp had assumed that role.  Perhaps it took the suspension of Lauren James after her red card against Nigeria in the round of 16 for Hemp to elevate her game and begin to accelerate into space with the ball.

And the throbbing, stinging pain in my arm and hand has announced that it is time for me to take another break.  I shall endeavour to try and conclude my summarizing remarks on the tournament prior to the third-place playoff game, but no promises can confidently be made.

Until the next time I am fit to type, I bid a good night to England and the colonies.

Cheers.